First Year Internship Comes to a Close

It's been a busy, demanding year!
150+ hours of classes/homework/final exam.
58+ hours of field work (clinics, demo gardens and other MG-related activities).

I'm done.  Totally done! 
It was definitely time well spent, but I'm glad to finally be getting some down-time from MG stuff.

Hope your winter garden preparations are coming along.  I'll be sure to keep in touch as the season progresses and share more learnings and adventures.  Talk to you all again soon.  Promise.

Harvest Festival at Bellevue Demo Garden

Saturday, September 18th was a delicious day at the Bellevue Demonstration Garden..... the annual harvest festival!

 
50 or so Master Gardeners and Interns gathered to show the public how garden produce can be turned into all things delicious, and educate folks on the sheer variety of fruits and vegetables one can grow up here in the Pacific Northwest   Wow!  What a production! 

When I arrived, a little after 8:30am set-up activities were already well under way. 
When all was said and done we had a magnificant bounty ready to share with everyone.

After checking in at the greeter's table for a bowl, utensil and napkin it was off to the shelter to check out all the tables laden with assorted dishes, each focusing on a different theme: asian style dishes using vegetables, and another table focusing on salads.....

Jams, jellies and juices.....

....and breads and cakes.....

Outside under a canopy, there was a tomato tasting station......(I never realised how many varieties of tomato could be grown up here in the PNW!)

There was a table serving stews, soups and chili...... and folks were even working a grilling station cooking up grilled fruits and veggies.....

2 hours to sample umpteen dishes, pick up interesting recipes, listen to great music, play a potato guessing game, pick up a bouquet of everlastings, meet and mingle with MGs and gossip about gardening.... what fun!

So, being an MG isn't just about digging in the dirt and diagnosing sick plants...... it's also about celebrating the bounty of the garden and sharing with the community.  I hope you'll come and celebrate with us next year!   

Training Update

Well, summer is almost over and my MG training continues.

I'm up to 45.5 hours so far this year in clinics, demonstration gardens and other extraneous assignments.  Humming along!  With one more clinic and two demo garden visits still on my calendar I'll be up to 57 hours when all is said and done, putting me well over the minimum 45 hour requirement for the first year intern, and in good position for a much lighter load next year.

I'm really enjoying the garden assignments..... love digging in at the Bellevue Demo Garden (part of the Lake Hills Greenbelt Park in Bellevue, WA).  Many MGs are there every week working away in their assigned spots, or hosting the clinic, so there's always lots of company.  A large number of the folks there are seriously seasoned MGs with years, if not decades of experience and knowledge.  What a resource! Just start up a conversation and all kinds of information comes pouring out.... great learning environment.

On the other hand, I'm finding the clinics terribly boring. : (
 

I'm the world's worst sitter!  I hate sitting!  I've never been able to sit still for very long, and to be sitting behind a table at a clinic for 4+ hours is a killer.  If there's an alternate way for me to contribute value to the MG-cause after my internship is finished, I'm going to have to seek it out.....

I've also managed to rack up 4.5 hours of continuing ed (CE) stuff.... we have to complete 10 hours of CE during our 2 year internship, so I'm well on my way to getting that done.  I've attended two of the lectures offered by the Bellevue Demonstration Garden - the topics were Water Gardens and Ferns (especially loved the Fern lecture.... didn't realise how cool ferns are... fascinating plants).  I also went to another lecture hosted by the PRKC folks (People for Rural King County) on the topic of knotweed and how best to manage (and ultimately eliminate) it. 

Knotweed's nasty stuff - a bully plant that can wreak havoc on native landscapes.  If you have a stand of it in your garden/community I highly encourage you to get involved with PRKC and learn how to get it under control.  Just let me know and I'll put you in direct contact with someone there for more information.

Got my eye on a few more lectures being offered this Fall, so still have more learning to look forward to!

So, yes, the first year of the MG training program is seriously demanding. 150 or so hours of classroom and homework, and another 50+ hours of field work/clinics and lectures.  But it's been so worth it. I'm making new friends; learning all kinds of cool stuff; becoming a smarter, more appreciative gardener, and am doing my small part to give something back to the community.  Can't beat that!

Ligularia Spectabilis!

Remember my posting last month asking you to help me identify my Ligularia dentata? 

Well, now that I know what it is, I'm more tuned in to spotting it in other people's gardens.  My poor little thing pales in comparison to the following two specimens..... take a look at these.....oh my!
 

I didn't realise how big these plants can grow, or how spectacular they can look in a pot.

Just stunning. 

So...... when mine's finished blooming for the year, I'm going to move him to a nice big pot.  Will give me a better chance of keeping the slugs off him next spring, and maybe he'll grow into a beauty like these two some day. 

An NPA Tour

Many members of the Northwest Perennial Alliance (NPA) offer their gardens up for touring.   Another opportunity to see gardeners in action.  Being members, we're invited to go have a look-see and recently I spent the morning doing just that- having enough time to visit two gardens.

I came away from the first home I visited inspired by what people can do when they work in total harmony with what mother nature gives them.......

This home is deep in the woods, nestled into a natural bowl at the edge of a lake. Rounded rocks, mosses, ferns, hostas and other shade-loving plants are the predominant flora.  As you can see by these first two photos they have let nature dictate things.... letting the plants softly establish so that nothing looks cultivated.

As I explored the garden I found myself walking 10-15 steps, stopping and slowly turning around 360 degrees to take it all in.... each and every angle/view point had been carefully considered.  

Not a blade of grass could be found anywhere. While that looks like a lawn in the photo below, it's really a carpet of mosses....

Their attention to the little details is everywhere... the placement of stones and plantings - no nook or cranny is overlooked.

The garden just seamlessly blends into the hillside and frames the home above. Nothing is out of place or seems intentionally placed..... garden design at it's finest.

The second home I visited left me feeling I'd been to a mini arboretum.  On the one hand it was very impressive what the home owners had accomplished, transforming a multi-acre wooded lot into an enormous and spectacular landscape..... but for me it went against mother nature and that kind of rubbed me a bit. However, what I did find delightful was the use and placement of garden art.  Being a "reduce-reuse-recycle" gal I always like seeing how people take worn out stuff, or what might be considered junk, and giving it a second life.  Here are a few examples....

Or how about his one (photo below).... very cool!  A simple container full of sedums sits on a stand made of curved wood.  If you look carefully you can see a metal tube at the top end of the curve...... it's an old kaleidoscope!  Look down through it and you see the plants in a whole new way.  Very clever!

Speaking of sedums...... here are two creative ways to arrange them....... box frame on an easel and two new garden critters (I think they're meant to be hedgehogs)!

Out by the parking garage, there were a number of identical containers, each overflowing with a beautiful floral arrangement and finished off with.....

.... yes, an old parking meter!  Whimsy at it's best.  Keeps the meters out of the landfill and gives them a second life.  Great idea!

So, there you have it.  Two interesting and rewarding visits.  What a delightful morning it was!  If you ever get the opportunity to visit someone else's garden, go!  Sometimes the lessons learned are far more lasting than reading the lastest handout or gardening book.

Mystery Plant

Heh there,
Anyone know what this plant is called?  It's so cool! 
Here's a picture of the entire plant.  It's about 4'-5' tall and about 2 1/2' wide.

The leaves all grow from a central base.... lovely dark burgundy stems and dark, dark green/eggplant colored leaves....

The buds are just amazing.  Not your ordinary lump on a stem... but a fan-shaped sepal.....  very exotic looking.

I'm itching to see what the flowers look like.  Starting to get a hint as to what the color might be.......

So, if you know what it is, I'd appreciate being in on the secret.  It's happily growing in my garden.

Thanks a bunch!

Hosting a Garden Open

Last week my husband and I hosted a garden open for the members of the Fall City Garden Club. 
In my opinion, garden opens are the best incentive for getting your outdoor projects done! Just put yourself on the calendar to host a garden open and you'll be amazed at how your list of garden-related to-do's gets taken care of. 

Being English I put on a cream tea for everyone who came..... little sandwiches without the crusts, other savory nibblies, cookies and of course the scones, cream and jam - all home made!

About 30 or so people showed up.... some stayed for just a while and others lingered 'til well after dark.  By then admiring the garden had been replaced with a good chat by the firepit! 

Garden opens are great ways to get free advice, share success stories and failures, discuss problems, ponder plant selections, show off your prized petunias or whatever, and just plain share in the glory of your efforts.  I'm convinced that only gardeners really appreciate another gardener's garden because they can see, through their own experience, the work and care that went into it.

So, for those of you who were unable to come pay us a visit, let me take you on a brief virtual tour........

We live on about 6 acres - 4 1/2 acres of which are natural PNW woodland with all the usual flora and fauna... the rest consists of the house, a carport/workshop, and two sheds (potting and wood) and landscaped gardens.  We have no lawns... got rid of them when we re-landscaped everything, and except for the deck and about 300sq ft of garden, nothing is level anywhere.  Technically speaking we're a shade lot... no one spot gets more than 4 hours or so of continuous sunshine.

My Lewisia's have been spectacular this year.  This is their second blooming since early May!  I had a few of them out in the front garden a few years back, but the deer ate them, leaves/roots and all (pulled them right up out of the ground!), so this time I put them in pots on the deck (the deer don't like walking on our deck so it's a safe haven for all things green!) and they're thriving!  Happy happy!

The deck on the back side of our home houses our container garden.  I'm getting much better at container compositions.  Attended a VERY good demo during a plant sale earlier this spring and learned a lot.  The big terra cotta pot in the upper photo I'm particularly proud of. 

This lace-cap hydrangea's in a cobalt blue pot... great color contrast! 

This past spring I transferred all of our hostas in to pots, and they're thriving!  The slugs and deer were brutal on them when they were in the ground, so I gave up trying to protect them and just put them in pots.  I have a variety of them ranging in color from lime green to deep blue.  

Except for the hanging baskets, I'm turning away from putting annuals into pots because, like many of you I'm sure, I'm looking for ways to lower the maintenance - namely less watering and daily/seasonal care.  So far my new plan is working..... I'm spending much less time babysitting the containers and I still get a heap of pleasure out of all the plants I've chosen for our container garden.

Speaking of hanging baskets...... here's one of this year's efforts..... not bad for what is technically speaking a shade garden!

Moving on to Moon garden, on the side of our home..... the Astilbes have been especially happy this year...... the color on this one knocks my socks off!

Beautiful burgundy stems and a very eye-catching neon purple bloom.   Sorry I can't tell you the cultivar... I lost the label a few years ago, but I have another one with a pretty similar, but not identical color/form and it's an Astilbe x arendsii 'Fanal' if that helps.   The Astilbes have plenty of company in the Moon Garden.... Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' (Bleeding Heart), Corydalis leutea, Pulmonaria officinalis (Common Lungwort), Centranthus Rober (Red Valerian), Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower), assorted Heucheras, Phygelius aequalis (Cape Fuchsia), Cimicifuga atropurpurea (Bugbane), Fuchsia magellanica 'aurea', assorted mints (I keep them under control), Tellima grandiflora (Fringecup), Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) and Euphorbia purpurea.

I've managed to keep the deer at bay by spraying the plants with an egg wash (1 egg, beat it with a fork, mix with water, pour through a sieve into an industrial-sized spray bottle, top up bottle with water and shake).  Without it, my garden would be salad-central!  An irritating, but small price to pay for getting to enjoy our woodland home and a pretty garden too.

Beyond the Moon Garden is the Wall Garden......

The Wall Garden consists of two D-shaped, walled beds (about 2 1/2' high) separated by a granite bench.   I focus on small-scaled plantings in these beds along with trailers that love to hang over the edge..... Primulas of all kinds (Primroses), Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping Jenny), Convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley), Tricyrtis Tojen (Toad Lily), Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', a variety of Saxifrages, Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft) and more.

Moving around to the front side of the house now and here's the herb garden.  Rosemary, sages and lavenders of various descriptions, chive, salad burnett, mint, marjoram and oregano and Gallium Odoratum (Sweet Woodruff)..... all happily growing among companion perennials and shrubs with minimal maintenance. 

Beyond the herb garden and up the hill to the Upper Garden is where you'll find our firepit.  Framing the right side along that back berm is a big swath of Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping Jenny) which really brightens up this shady corner of our garden, and behind it a row of Japenese grasses to frame out the circle.  On the other side of the fire pit, and further into the Upper Garden and beyond, we have an assortment of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and groundcovers........

......... (Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese Spurge), Polygonatum odoratum (Solomon's Seal), Achlys triphylla (Vanilla Leaf), more Astilbes and some Hellebores, Cornus Alba (variegated red twig dogwood), Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove), assorted Barberry's (columnar, purple and golden), Myosotis sylvatica (Forget-Me-Not), Vacinnium ovatum (Everygreen Huckleberry), and many more.

At the top of the Upper Garden is a stone wall with two sets of steps leading up to the potting shed.  I've got some lavenders that are not happy (getting very leggy due to lack of enough sunshine) so when they finally give out on me I'll need to find something else that's more shade tolerant.  Two Korean boxwoods frame each corner so I have nice evergreen structure during the winter. 

That's a pair of well worn hiking boots given a second life as a sedum container....... 

.... and here's a birdbath that was too deep for the birds to enjoy, so I drilled holes in the bottom and filled it with an assortment of sedums, giving it a second life as a micro-garden.  99% maintenance free and adds a nice architectural detail to the garden.

So, there you have it.  A quick tour of our garden.  Not a comprehensive list of plantings, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what I've got growing here.    Hope you enjoyed yourself..... sorry you didn't get to indulge in the cream tea.  It was delicious!

Thank you # 3

Dear blunt pruners,

Thank you for making me mess up when I was pruning this morning.  Instead of a nice clean cut you helped me make a real mess of things, and reminded me of what I had been told in my MG class about needing to have well-maintained tools - for the plant's well-being as well as my own.  I'll get you sharpened up pronto, I promise (and I'll check all my other gardening tools while I'm at it!).
Thanks for giving me a nasty reminder of an important chore that needs to be done.
Carol

PS.  I went and found another set of pruners that I own (sharp ones this time!) and made amends/said my apologies to the poor plant that I abused.  It's now got a nice clean cut and should seal over just fine.
Click HERE to learn how my "thank-you" notes got started.

Wiser about Wisely

Just finished watching an enjoyable and informative Netflix video about the Wisley gardens near Woking, Surrey in England.  Thought you'd like to know about it......

The pride and joy of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Wisely (pronounced Wiss-lee) is an 800 acre demonstration, exhibition, research garden open to the public year round.

If you'd like a perspective on English gardens and gardening and how the RHS operates, check out this video.  Nice way to spend about 4 hours.  The DVD covers Wisely through the four seasons - each season's review taking about an hour.  You get to see behind-the-scenes activites, visit all of their different demo/teaching gardens and learn about various gardening techniques the RHS uses.  It's all presented very prim and properly in a way only the English can do!  Invite a few gardening friends over, fix yourself a cuppa tea and a crumpet and enjoy the show!

Thank you # 2

Dear little millipede *,
Thank you for recycling all the duff, and smelling so divine in the process! 

You smell like a cross between vanilla bean and baby powder.... how cool is that?!
Thanks for not being icky.
Carol

*  Harpaphe Haydeniana - for those of you who want its proper Latin name.  These little guys are really common up here in the PNW.

Click HERE to learn how my "thank-you" notes got started.

Thank you # 1

A month or so ago I learned about a really cool blog...... totally focused to one thing.... the art of saying thanks.  Thanks to things we wouldn't normally pay attention to.  As I surfed through this woman's blog I started to see my own life experiences in a whole new way.  Here's the link..... check it out for yourself and see what you think....

As a deep admirer of the natural world and a Master Gardener in the making, I thought, why not take a moment now and then to outwardly say a little thank you to mother nature and my gardening adventures.  Here's the first of what I hope will be many more notes of appreciation.....

Dear conifer candles,
Thank you for making me pay closer attention to the ocean of evergreen trees we have here in the PNW.

I love how you dust the tips of the branches each spring, and add a new dimension to what's outside my window.
Thanks again,
Carol

Garden #3: What I Learned

June 5th - back out to Bellevue Demonstration Garden for my third garden assignment of the season.........

Lesson #1:  Pachysandra's a very thick ground cover once it gets established. Great for preventing weeds from setting in. Forms a dense mass of green leaves about 6"-8" high that looks quite orderly.  Somewhat of a pain to dig up and pull out if you need to get a patch that's outside it's boundaries set back in place, but not too bad a chore. (This was one of my first assignments for the day).

Lesson #2:   On the other hand, pulling up Vinca that's run amok is a totally miserable pain in the you-know-what.  So, be warned, if you've got Vinca (Periwinkle) as a ground cover, keep it trimmed back to where you want it to be and don't dawdle on keeping it trimmed when it ventures beyond it's boundaries (guess the Pachysandra chore was the warm up for this one that followed - took me nearly 2 hours to dig up/pull out a patch of Vinca about 9ft x 4ft). 

Lesson #3:  The water-filled cozies shown in the photo below really help to keep young starts warm while they get established during cool weather.  How spiffy!  Be sure to place some sort of metal support inside the ring before you fill it with water.  They do stand up pretty well, but it wouldn't take much for a deer, or a dog, or an inattentive gardener to knock one over, or for it to sag if it sprung a leak.... then your tomatoes (or whatever other plant start you decide to wrap it around) would be smooshed.  I saw some in a gardener's supply catalog for about $10 a pair.  Not sure if that's a good price or not.  You might want to shop around.

Lesson #4:  There are fruit trees that grow in a columnar form. Not with branches spread out all over the place, but tall and straight.  Here's an example of a columnar apple tree...... how cool is that?    Sorry the picture's not that great..... it's the one in the terra cotta pot in the very front.  The tree is growing straight up right in the center of the picture.

It's a Malus sylvestris var. domestica.... aka Golden Sentinel.  Produces a sweet, juicy yellow fruit that ripens in September and October.  Grows well in a whiskey barrel and will reach 7'-9' tall.  So, if you don't have much room, want a fruit tree on your deck or patio, here's the answer.  I wonder what other types of fruit grow in columnar varieties.... anyone know of any?

Lesson #5:  Forget-me-not seeds stick to everything.   If you decide to cut these plants back/pull them out after they've gone to seed - you've now been warned!  I helped another MG clean up a huge annual border filled with nothing but F-M-N's - we had seeds everywhere!  They're such prolific seeders you don't really need to cut these plants back.... just pull the whole darn thing up and throw on the compost.  Sure enough you'll soon see new plants sprouting up all over.    One other tip (from my own gardening experiences at home)..... deer don't eat Forget-me-nots.... and apart from the brief scraggly period they go through after they've gone to seed, they make great evergreen borders along a path.

Lesson #6:   Pay attention to the little details and wonderous moments will happen regularly in your garden.  Remember one of my very first posts re: flowers and how they reproduce?  Well here's mother nature in action....  look at the center of this fertilized flower....... see the green nub?  That's the ovary already swelling into the fruit.

Now notice how some of the other fruits have already finished growing. The petals and other reproductive parts have withered and fallen off, leaving the fully grown fruit at the end of the long stem.  
Eventually, the fruit fully matures, the pod dries out and inside are the new seeds ready to bust out and start the cycle all over again. Ta dah! 

Lesson #7:   I need to figure out how to avoid being assigned to dig/pull up any more Vinca during my internship.....

Gardening Myths Debunked

Just finished reading a great little paperback (about 200 pages) debunking a number of common gardening myths.  The Informed Gardener, by Linda Chalker-Scott. Heard of it? 



I found it to be a quick, rewarding read written in an easy style that average folks like me can understand.  I'm a bedtime reader, so loved the fact that each chapter was just enough pages to make for a quick read before turning out the light.  There are 6 sections to the book, each focusing on a different topic:

  1. Critical thinking
  2. Understanding how plants work
  3. How/what/when/where to plant
  4. Soil additives
  5. Mulches
  6. Miracles in a bag/bottle/box

Inside each section are a series of myths.  Each myth is discussed, then the scientific reality is handed out, followed by a bottom line summation and a list of references.  4-6 pages tops on each subject with easy to understand explanations for the scientific stuff. 

I'm a big container gardening fan and was particularly attracted to the chapter titled "The Myth of Drainage Material in Containers". 
The myth is that adding a layer of coarse material (gravel, pebbles, pot shards and the like) to the bottom of a container will improve drainage.  I've been doing that for decades..... never questioned the practice.
The scientific reality is that water doesn't transition well between layers of finely textured materials to coarse ones.  Studies have shown that MORE moisture is retained in soil when a coarse bottom layer is present and the more coarse the material the harder it is for water to move across the interface.  Gravitational water will not move across that interface until the finer textured layer is totally saturated - meaning the soil will stay waterlogged.  Not a good thing when we're needing well drained soil to keep our plants happy.
So the bottom line is to use the same planting material throughout the entire container to ensure proper water and air movement.  I probably learned all about this principle in school way back when, but just never put two and two together.  Now I just put a used dryer sheet in the bottom before filling the entire thing with potting soil.   The soil can't work it's way out of the holes and everything can drain readily.

Linda had a lot to say about those hydrogel sprinkles we add to potting soil to increase water retention.  Suffice to say.... they're not so nice to the environment (or us either).  In their solid, dry state (polymerized form) they're harmless, yes, but over time (just a few years), they break down (depolymerize) and become toxic (acrylamide's nasty stuff)...... interesting how the manufacturer fails to tell us that part.  Now I know better......

So, The Informed Gardener, by Linda Chalker-Scott.   If you decide to go check it out, let me know.  I'd be interested in hearing which topics grabbed your attention and why.

Naturescaping principle #3 of 11: Key Learning

... and now for your next installement in the Naturescaping series......

Principle #3:  TRY TO PROVIDE ALL FOUR WILDLIFE HABITAT ELEMENTS
 
The four wildlife habitat elements are food, water, shelter and space.  By offering all of the them you'll increase the chances critters will come visiting and more importantly, stick around.  It's the diversity of wildlife that will help to bring balance to your naturescape.  Just like too much chocolate is not a good thing (mmmmm, I should re-think that example.... too much chocolate is always a good thing), let's say..... just like too many french fries are not a good thing, too much of one type of wildlife isn't necessarily good either.  Birds, butterflies, beneficial insects, small mammals of every description - the wider the variety the greater the likelihood you'll have a well balanced ecosystem in your naturescape.

Here's a quick run down on three of the four elements....

Food:  By food we mean naturally occurring food, as much as possible.   By growing plants that are appealing food sources for the native species of the PNW they will naturally want to visit and stick around.  Look for assortment of plants that produce nuts, berries and seeds throughout the year.

Water:  Ponds, streams and rivers are wonderful if/when you live by/near them, but for most of us, they're not a part of our landscape, so folks like us need to think of other ways to offer water.  A bird bath is the most common idea, or a critter bath (basically the same as a bird bath, but it's down at ground level).  Collection bowls under rain chains are another option, and small fountains/water features yet another.  Keep in mind, mosquito season is upon us, so be sure to plop a portion of a mosquito dunk into the water.  They're pet/wildlife safe, so no worries.

Space:  When we talk about space we're referring to leaving part of your landscape au natural - undisturbed.  If a tree blows down and it's not in the way of anything, leave it where it is and scape your garden around it.  Or perhaps just chop up part of it and leave the stump.  We've got a family of winter wrens living in this one.....

If you live next to a green belt or a neighbor with woodland, try to keep part of your garden connected so animals have a safe means to travel from place to place.

..... and for the final one, shelter I thought I'd go into a little more detail and show you some things I've done in my own garden.

First let's look at rock walls..... critters LOVE hidey holes - it offers them protection from the elements and enemies.  A rock wall is like one big condo complex to little critters.......hidey holes galore here!

Got a broken pot?  Here's a great way to recyle it.  Take a suitable piece and create a little place for critters to seek shelter from the elements.  Semi bury it into the ground so it's secure, and leave a few pieces of wood lying around for added effect.

I created this little set up right along where part of our garden meets the surrounding woodland, hoping that critters will come visiting from the woods and hang out.

Here's another idea.  Take a handful of small logs and pile them up log-cabin style and place an old piece of slate on top.  Ta dah!  Another opportunity to invite neighbors into your garden.

Wood stacks make great temporary havens.  My husband has a few assorted woodpiles in staging areas that will ultimately become firewood.... so while they're piled up the critters can move in and take cover.

Many of us have birdhouses -they're the most common form of wildlife shelter we humans place in our gardens.  We have lots of them scattered around our property, but the one shown below, situated in the rafters of our carport, is extra special.



First, because it was made by my husband's grandfather, so it brings with it wonderful memories.  Second, because it's become the annual residence for violet swallows who come back every spring to raise a family.... and swallows eat a LOT of bugs/mosquitos!  So while they help us with pest control we get front row seats to a great show.  We hear the peep, peep, peeping of the chicks and watch the parents tirelessly, time and again, return to the box with food.

Here's one poking his/her little head out of the hole marvelling at the world, and yes, I've even been lucky enough to see them fledge.  Early one July morning a few years back I just happened to be out in the front garden at the right time ..... a number of adult swallows were flying around the roof of the house making a heck of a noise - must have been calling out encouragements - and one by one the young ones came out of the hole, paused, wobbled and finally took the leap.  So cool!

Here's another type of shelter you can offer your flying friends......

How about a bat house?  We have one mounted on the outside of my husband's workshop.  Ideally, they should be placed high up on a structure (don't nail to a tree), in a location that gets a good amount of sun so the box can warm up.  Many folks think bats are like rats..... something you don't want hanging around your house.  But bats are beneficial..... just like swallows, they also love to eat insects - so get both of them to live in your garden and you'll have 24 hour bug patrol - swallows during the day, bats at night!

One final idea for your flying friends..... how about a mason bee house?  Find ways to encourage pollinators to come and live around your home.  A few months back I posted a blog about mason bees.... feel free to refer back to it for more details.

Finally, here's a truly unique shelter - I challenge anyone else in the PNW to claim they have one of these in their garden! 



See that swiss-cheesey looking dome thing in the background?  It's a miniature reef ball. My husband and I are avid SCUBA divers and learned about REEF BALLS when we were living in South Florida - and we were given a minature sample to take home.  When we moved up here I decided to put ours into the garden for critters to use as a shelter.  Here's what it looks like up close....

Lots of nooks and crannies.... a toad house perhaps?   

So, these are just some examples of ways you can introduce shelter in your garden.  Get creative, be whimsical!  Rather than throw an item out in the trash, consider recyling and re-using it as a critter shelter.  A double whammy benefit..... you keep things out of the landfill and you encourage critters to come and be a part of your naturescape.